Intro to Relationship Finality
by Her Name Was Rose-2
Summary: After Troy breaks up with Britta, she's feeling sad about the direction her life is taking, so she finds herself at The Red Door. A familiar face happens to be there, and takes time to make her feel better about her situation. My first Community fan fic. It's not my best, but it's the first one that was edited and I felt was ready to post. :)


After the group all left the study room for their early weekend, Britta pulled Troy back into the room for a hug. It was a hug that said, _thank you, I understand, I feel the same way, we'll always be friends_. They left without saying a word and Troy caught up with Abed and Annie to catch a ride home.

Britta wasn't sure what she was going to do. Early afternoon on a Friday. No homework. No projects. No studying. And now, no boyfriend. So she went to the only place she could think of: The Red Door.

As she sat nursing her vodka neat with 4 olives, deep realization hit. She had just been dumped by her boyfriend. Admittedly, he was way too young for her. And he was way too immature for her. And it seemed like he was already in a relationship with Abed. But at the end of it, she had still been dumped.

She wasn't going to cry, but somewhere deep-down, she was sad. She was nearly 30, struggling every month to pay her rent and had nothing to show of her life. It was a depressing realization, which was simply brought about when Troy broke up with her.

"Please don't tell me you're sad about you and Troy breaking up?" a very recognizable voice exclaimed from behind. Jeff sat down next to her as she took another sip from her drink.

"It's not just that," she started sadly, "it's everything in my life. Literally everything is screwed up."

"Britta," he said sympathetically. He could tell from her voice that she couldn't take his usual sarcasm right now. "Why are you doing this to yourself? Everything in your life isn't screwed up, you just think it is."

She turned and pointed her finger at him, then poked him in the chest, "tell me one thing, ONE THING about my life that isn't completely screwed up!" she challenged him. "I hate my parents. My check engine light has been on for about 500 miles and my car's making a noise that I KNOW can't mean anything good. All my friends are married and having kids, while I'm stuck in community college and just got dumped by my 22 year-old boyfriend. And I can only make enough money to pay rent because I wear a tight white t-shirt to work without a bra so guys will leave bigger tips."

"Okay, first of all, when's your next shift?" he asked and flashed his trademark Winger smile. She smiled as he continued, "second, you remember how well my little chat with my dad went, so unless you're wanting to experience the same thing, don't worry about your parents."

He took the hand that was still currently poking his chest, "ouch," he said, but didn't release it, instead he held it and set it down in his lap, entwining their fingers.

"Third, not all your friends have left you to go off and have kids. You have the group."

"Yeah, a group which now includes my previously mentioned ex-boyfriend," she added.

"Hey, WE are still friends," he pointed out. "What makes you think you and Troy won't be able to make it as friends?" She looked down at their hands, setting in his lap. He ran his thumb across hers.

"Yeah, I guess we are," she said then looked back up at him and smiled.

They sat there, staring at each other for a moment, both contemplating the other. Jeff lifted his free hand to cup the side of her cheek and opened his mouth to say something.

"You two doing okay?" the bartender interrupted, before Jeff could speak. "Miss, you ready for another one?" She held Jeff's gaze for one moment longer, then she blinked and looked over at the bartender. Jeff dropped his hand and let go of the one in his lap, then turned to shoot down what was left in his whiskey glass.

She looked down at her glass, "um," then over at Jeff. "How much longer were you planning on staying here?" she asked him.

He turned his body on his stool and looked her in the eye, "I don't know. However long you were going to stay."

"Oh, okay," she glanced back to the bartender, then back at Jeff. "No. No, I think I'm done. Thanks."

"Me too," Jeff added.

Britta stood up and started to put her jacket on when she felt Jeff step up behind her to help her.

He leaned in closer, "are you sure you're okay?" he asked. His voice was a little husky as it brushed past her ear.

She turned but he didn't step back, and neither did she. He glimpsed down at her lips for a split second, as she licked them.

"Yeah," she stated, "yeah, I'm going to be fine. Thanks for the little pep talk Jeff. You always seem to know what to say to-"

She was cut off when Jeff leaned down and captured her lips with his. It was only for a moment, and it was over all to quickly for either of them, but Jeff ended it and stepped back. She had just broken up with her boy-friend, was a little tipsy, and feeling vulnerable. He was still Jeff Winger, but he wasn't a slime ball.

"Jeff," she started but he cut her off.

"No, don't say anything," he told her as he looked down at the floor and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. That was wrong." He looked back up at Britta. "Okay, so what's going to happen now is, I'm going to go back to my car and drive home, and you're going to go back to your car and drive home. We aren't going to talk about this, or tell anyone it happened."

He turned and walked out the door before she could say anything.

Stunned, she waited a moment, trying to process what had just happened, then walked to her car.

….

15 minutes later

….

Jeff opened up the door to his building. His phone vibrated in his pocket but he knew who was texting him, so he didn't even reach for it, he just let it keep buzzing. He climbed the steps to his floor and jangled his keys in his left hand. He turned the corner only to find Britta standing outside his door. He froze when she looked over at him.

"Took the long way home, did you?" she smiled as she asked him.

"I made a stop," he said and lifted the bottle of scotch he was holding. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

She started walking toward him because he hadn't moved. "You didn't say _whose_ home I was supposed to drive to, so I picked the one I wanted to go to."

"Britta, why are you here?" he asked again, sounding a little unsure.

"I'm here because you kissed me," she answered.

"That was a bad idea," he said seriously. "I'm not about to prey on a sad vulnerable girl who just broke up with her boy-friend a few hours ago. I'm not that guy anymore."

"Jeff, I'm a big girl. I can make my own decisions."

"No you can't, and I think you've proved that to everyone."

"Shut up, Winger!" she yelled. They were face to face now. She reached her arms up and placed them on either side of his chest, then ran them up to wind around his neck.

"Britta, this isn't a good idea." Jeff was surprised how much restraint he was showing, because in those pants, and with those boots, and the way her tongue kept peeking out from the side of her mouth, he was just about ready to push her up against the wall in the hallway of his building and take her right there.

She didn't say a word, just let her arms slide back down his chest, then took the keys from his hand and walked over to his door. She unlocked it, and let herself in, taking off her coat before plopping down on his couch. "You coming in?" she called to him, still standing out in the hallway. He stepped in and closed the door while she turned on the TV.

"My apartment is so cold! The Super still hasn't fixed my radiator, so it's practically the same temperature as it is outside," she said casually.

Jeff went to the kitchen and grabbed two glasses, poured scotch in each, then went to sit down next to Britta. He handed her one of the glasses, then set the bottle on the coffee table in front of them. His arm stretched out along the backside of the couch, where Britta was seated.

"Why did you come here?" he asked again.

"Because you kissed me the day Troy broke up with me," she said, then took a sip of her drink. "Well, that and I didn't want to be alone. Can we just sit here and watch bad reality TV in peace?" she asked as she turned on _Keeping Up With the Kardashians_.

"Ugh!" she groaned, "they're all such sluts! Even the young ones are sluts in the making. I mean look at who they have as their role models, right? They use their bodies as tools to get what they want, which does nothing to promote feminism. In fact, I think they're setting it back!"

"Yeah," he agreed, but his eyes were only on her.

After a few minutes he broke the silence. "Hey Britta," he asked.

She looked over at him, and responded, "yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

She nodded.

"Why were you dating Troy?" he asked.

She thought for a minute then answered, "well, he was nice and kind of dumb, which was cute at first, but then got really annoying."

"So why did you wait for him to break up with you if he annoyed you?"

"I don't know. It's so corny, and I hate to admit it, but having a boyfriend is nice sometimes."

"Oh," he said, then took a sip of his drink. "So, it didn't have anything to do with me and Annie?" he asked.

"What? No! And what do you mean _you and_ Annie?" she asked, looking shocked.

"No, there's nothing going on, it's just obvious she has a crush on me, and I indulge her sometimes. It probably makes me the world's biggest jerk, but it's nice to know I have someone to fall back on, I guess," he answered honestly.

"Yeah, I understand," she told him. "I think that's what I was doing with Troy. I was lonely. I haven't dated anyone since..." she trailed off, and looked down at the glass in her hand.

"Since me?" he asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

"Yes, are you happy?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both watching the television screen but not really paying attention. Then Jeff turned to face her. "Why _did_ we stop dating? That was fun."

Britta smiled, "yeah, it was. But do you mean dating or _dating_?"

Jeff laughed, then took another sip of his drink. "Um, actually both I guess."

"Wow, Jeff Winger actually admitting he liked dating someone."

"I know, I hate new Jeff," he joked.

"No, it's a nice change. You've come a long way from the jerk who started a fake study group just so he could have sex with a girl in his Spanish class who he never intended to call again."

"Pretty," he said.

"What?" she didn't understand what he meant.

"You forgot to say the 'pretty girl from his Spanish class'," he corrected her.

She looked down, embarrassed, then back up at him, "I think that's just the booze talking."

"No, it's true. But you're right, I'm not that guy anymore. You guys changed me. I thought I didn't want to change, but now that I'm new Jeff I kind of like it," he said and smiled at her. "But if you tell anyone I just said that, I'll deny it til I die."

"Okay, so you still have a bit of old Jeff left," she joked.

They went back to watching TV, until Britta realized they hadn't really addressed his initial question. "Wait," she said, and looked at him, "you asked me why we stopped dating?"

He looked a little uneasy, but looked over at her, "yeah, I did."

"Why did you ask me that? Do you think it was a mistake?"

"I don't know, it's just..." he took a breath, "I don't know. Forget I said anything."

She let it go since she could see the subject was making him uncomfortable. Five minutes later, she took the last sip of her drink and put the glass on the table. She got up, grabbed a blanket from his bedroom and laid it over both of them, then sat next to him and snuggled into his side. He wrapped his arm around her as they sat watching TV. When she fell asleep, he brushed her hair from the side of her face, leaned down and kissed her cheek before settling down and falling asleep himself.


End file.
